Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band – Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

"Good evening, New Jersey! You came out to help us shut the old lady down. Are you ready for the wrecking ball?" These were the welcoming words of Bruce Springsteen when he greeted the crowd at Giants Stadium this past Saturday night.  Leave it up to the Boss to create a song solely about knocking down Giants Stadium titled ‘Wrecking Ball’.  The words of the song were so fitting and so meaningful to the Jersey crowd since a majority of them have all been to Giants Stadium one time or another.

From that moment on, the energy was up, the lights went down, and the stadium never seemed so loud and enthusiastic.  Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E-Street band graced us with all the hits of the Born in the U.S.A. album Saturday night while having already done albums ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ the Wednesday and Thursday night before.  While some long-time Bruce fans may have preferred to hear the other two albums, Bruce did throw in some oldies but goodies including songs like, ‘Kitty’s Back’, ‘Out in the Street’ and ‘Born to Run’.  He and the rest of the band did hold true to their promise though and played almost all the songs from the Born in the U.S.A. album including, ‘Dancing in the Dark’, ‘My Hometown’, ‘Glory Days’, ‘Cover Me’, and ‘I’m on Fire’.  During the show, he even put all his faith in the audience by letting them sing, ‘Hungry Heart’ all on their lonesome while the band played back-up and while he jumped into the crowd and continued to ‘crowd surf’ his way back to the stage.  Not bad for a 60 year old guy from Freehold, eh?  Of course, being a fan-fav, everyone belted out every single word to the song – in tune and on point.

Some other memorable highlights included Bruce bringing a young girl on stage to dance and show him some ‘new’ moves.  He also grabbed signs from the crowd that had requests on them, like ‘Jersey Girl’ and ‘Kitty’s Back’.  Not only did he fulfill those requests, but he truly went all out and played them with all his heart. 

All in all, it was a great show that ended with a fireworks display and a little song called, ‘Thunder Road’.  Bruce ‘showed a little faith’ in his Jersey fans and there was definitely ‘magic in the night’! 

--Diva K